Showing events on this day in years past that shaped history... just, not our history.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Fall of Dublin - Guest Post by Marko Bosscher

In
July 1649 The Earl of Ormonde marched a combined force of English
Royalists and Irish Confederates on Dublin, the last major foothold of
parliamentary forces in Ireland. Ironically Ormonde himself had held
Dublin two years prior when it was besieged by Irish Confederates,
before abandoning it to English parliamentary forces.

The
Confederate/Royalist coalition had been forged in blood, the years
since the Irish Rebellion in 1641 had been years of bloody and ruthless
wars. Even as a peace agreement had been reached in 1648, after a series
of defeats for the confederates at the hands of parliamentarian forces,
fighting continued against those catholics who could not stomach
submitting to the protestants who had inflicted massacres on catholics
only a few years prior.

In
1649 things were going well for the coalition, the parliamentary forces
received almost no support from England, where Cromwell had his hands
full with the second English Civil War. At
the end of July Ormonde had camped his troops at Rathmines near Dublin,
with the intent to besiege the city. On the second of August his troops
started fortifying the half-demolished castle of Baggotrath on the
outskirts of Dublin. Michael Jones, the defender of Dublin, decided to
move against this danger with an army of 5.000.

Although
Ormond’s army had stood to arms for just such an eventuality Jones
quickly captured Baggotrath, and turned towards the main Royalist camp.
Although the royalist forces were thrown in disarray, they were able to
fall back on a line formed by Lord Inchiquin’s infantry. Despite
suffering heavy losses Ormonde was able to hold the line long enough for
Lord Dillon to march against the parliamentarian rear.

Chaotic
fighting raged on throughout the day, until at the start of the evening
the remaining Parliamentarians forced themselves past Dillon’s battered
forces and retired to Dublin.

The
parliamentarians had inflicted heavy losses on the Royalists, but at
the cost of most of their own force. Lord Inchiquin who had been
stationed in Munster with three regiments of horse had marched North
upon hearing the news, and linked up with Ormonde the next day. With
Ormonde´s troops occupying the countryside and his artillery dominating
the harbour, the siege of Dublin continued for another 6 weeks.

Cut
off from England and with no remaining allies in Ireland Jones
surrendered Dublin and was allowed to return to england with his troops,
leaving behind most of their weaponry.

With
no port open to him Cromwell called of his planned invasion of Ireland
until spring. But the intended invasion of Ireland was overtaken by
events, as the Scots proclaimed Charles II their king. The bulk of the
New Model Army marched north against the Scots, leaving only a small
army to invade Ireland and attempt to gain a foothold there.

Because
the English navy still commanded the Irish sea parliamentarian forces
could land unopposed near Drogheda. Needing to to take Drogheda before
the Royalists could send reinforcements the walls were quickly broken by
artillery and the city taken by assault.

The royalist garrison was massacred to a man, along with hundreds of civilians. The
victory of parliament was short-lived as Ormonde marched the main
royalist army against Drogheda, while Dillon marched troops from Dublin
past Drogheda to block the parliamentarians from the north. With most
defensible positions destroyed in the Parliamentarian attack the city
was soon assaulted and it’s defenders given no quarter.

The
massacre of Drogheda did much to strengthen Irish resolve. The defense
of Ireland was strengthened by new fortifications in coastal towns and a
reorganization of the Royalist army into three armies tasked with
guarding Ireland against any invasion. Although English Royalists
remained in command of these armies, with Ormonde in overall command,
the Irish nobility was incorporated into the army as well.

Parliamentary
propaganda tried to make the best of it’s failure to recapture Ireland
by casting Charles II as “the Irish King”, hoping to fuel anti-Irish and
anti-Catholic resentment in England, even though the monarch did not so
much as set foot on Irish soil during these years.

Upon
the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 the Irish Confederacy was
dissolved and the Irish Parliament instituted. The confederacy had
achieved most of its goals, with self-government of Ireland assured and
religious equality for Catholics (in Ireland) granted by Charles II.

In reality: Ormonde’s
troops were routed at the battle of Rathmines and never really
recovered. Cromwell was able to use Dublin as ann entry point to Ireland
and marched quickly against other coastal towns, Drogheda was just the
first of many massacres. In total the human cost of the conquest of
Ireland is estimated at between 200.000 and 600,000 death (15-50% of the
total population), another 50.000 Irish were taken to the West Indies
as slave laborers. Ireland
was effectively colonized by the English under Cromwell, Charles II
restored only part of the lands taken by Cromwell leaving the Irish
almost completely disenfranchised.